Tsuna and Maru
by MsSage
Summary: The snake loved a toad. The toad loved a slug. The slug loved a snake. Perhaps that is the true nature of the three way deadlock? The legacy of the Sannin. Tsunade x Orochimaru, one-sided Orochimaru x Jiraiya, one-sided Jiraiyax Tsunade. A Flashback scene from my other fanfic, Heirs and Spares. PLEASE REVIEW!


**[A/N: a snippet of chapter 36 for my fanfic 'Heirs and Spares'. It was too good a scene to not publish separately for fans of the sannin.] **

Tsunade stumbled into the bar after ditching Shizune at her hotel. It was that time of year, the anniversary of her little brother's death. She was in border town in the land of hot water indulging in the booming nightlife. No longer a shinobi village, it was the perfect place to avoid the blood and gore that was synonymous with the path of the ninja. A path she wanted nothing to do with.

Slinking her way to the bartender, she ordered the finest whiskey they'd had on offer. Before settling down onto the stool. She slammed the drink down in a single gulp, about to motion for another when a firm grasp settled on her raised wrist. Normally she'd have body slammed the person that dared touch her, but the person who'd delicately gripped her, she hadn't sensed. Even in an inebriated state, there were only two that could accomplish such a feat and Jiraiya could never be called delicate. Hiruzen would not dare.

"Orochimaru."

"Tsunade."

"You should be in the Leaf."

"As should you."

Orochimaru slid into the stool next to her and to her relief, signalled for another round of drinks their way. It was always rare for her teammate to indulge in anything, nevermind whiskey. Tsunade raised her brow contemplating the shinobi in front of her. With pale skin, golden eyes with slitted pupils, purple eye markings and fang-like his teeth, Orochimaru should look terrifying. Then again, he also has pronounced cheekbones and straight waist-length black hair with some locks covering and framing his face or to his shoulders paired with a slim androgynous figure. While he did strike terror in some, Tsunade could admit that her teammate was absurdly attractive. She was insanely jealous. He was too attractive to be lowering himself to drinking in a seedy bar so far from that village she'd once called home.

"Thought you didn't drink."

"I do today. You know that."

"Ah, I guess I did. Jiraiya?"

"Ame brats."

"I see."

"Come home, Tsuna."

"Never, Maru."

The whiskey went down smoothly as they snidely responded to each other as if Tsunade had never fled the Leaf, as if Jiraiya's absence wasn't due to some random Ame orphans and Orochimaru had never been abandoned in the Leaf alone by his team. Tsunade dared not say it, but if anyone made her feel comfortable in a crowded room it was the snake sannin next to her. Not even Dan could make her feel that way and she'd loved that man fiercely. There was something about Orochimaru's unyielding ability to take pride in his unusualness that had always left her awestruck yet calm in his confident aura. She'd already been relaxed more now than she ever would as a shinobi in foreign lands. She slammed her drink down relishing in the burn as she contemplated the short life of her brother.

"Kami, I miss the kid."

"If I could bring him back I would."

"I know. Thank you."

"Tsuna, I –"

"Maru, I don't want to hear it. Just drink,"

She stood now, stumbling only slightly enough for him to notice, raising her glass to his lips. Their eyes met as she tipped her glass while he tipped his head back. A chuckle escaped her as she stumbled forward again, reaching for Orochimaru's drink to down. His hand snaked around her waist, steadying her as she gulped the amber liquor down, still holding her own glass in her other hand. A drop of whiskey escaped her lips and before it could trace its way down to the valley of her breasts, Orochimaru was there, licking the alcoholic bead away. She shivered at the feeling of his tongue on her body but was too transfixed to react until he retracted himself.

The glasses fell to the ground with a shatter and the snake sannin froze, his eyes widening in just as much shock as hers had, once he'd contemplated his action.

"Tsuna, I –," his voice trembled and Tsunade was shocked at the vulnerability. Orochimaru was never vulnerable. It was so wrong. Too wrong. There was too much wrong in the world for Orochimaru to hold a pedestal of his own wrongness there. He was the ideal shinobi. Her ideal shinobi. He'd always been.

With careless actions, she leaned forward and the shinobi flinched, probably ready to be sent through a wall as she caught his jaw in her hand stopping his speech.

"I said I didn't want to fucking hear it, didn't I, Maru?"

He nodded, eyes not leaving hers and Tsunade did the unthinkable. She leaned forward and then the slug princess tasted the snake. She felt him indulge her as they both ignored the angry barmen, his delicate hand slipping behind her neck. For a mere second she imagined him snapping it but instead the man leaned into her as if she were the finest whiskey, he'd ever dare indulge in. Then too soon her pushed her way, albeit reluctantly with uncertainty on his face and lust in his eyes.

"This would kill Jiraiya."

She didn't doubt it. What did Jiraiya really know of the world and hardship? The only people Jiraiya cared about, his genin team, the ame brats, Hiruzen, Orochimaru and herself were all still alive at least. Left as a baby in the Konoha orphanage, he couldn't even truly comprehend the loss of a family he never knew. A petty thing like an unrequited lover with his best friend? Of course it would kill him.

She and Orochimaru were cut from an entirely different cloth. Her dead baby brother was enough to attest to that. Orochimaru's parents. Her parents. Her lover. Love was a fleeting thing that had brought them agony. She couldn't dare love so intensely again.

"If this is all it takes to kill him, he hasn't met pain," She said, and she felt agreement from him although he gave no verbal nor physical cues.

With more bravery than she'd shown in years, she took his hand in hers, pulling her teammate to his feet. He rose reluctantly as she turned to stroll out the bar.

'Tsuna I -" He tried to speak but she tightened her grip dangerously and Orochimaru froze behind her, clearly valuing the functionality of his hand.

"Just shut up please Maru, for tonight," She all but pleaded and perhaps it had been that fine liquor they hadn't bothered paying for. Or maybe the fleeting knowledge that they'd denied this for too damn long in favour of placating Jiraiya's feelings. Or maybe it was because they were two grey souls that had lost too much and were fated to lose so much more. Perhaps, she mused, it was even destiny.

When two lost souls caressed each others wounds long after their scars had healed on a moonless night, under the influence of liquid courage, they'd both finally felt alive. It would be nine long months of coded letters, secret meetings and expert genjutsu on her body to alter her image enough to fool her ward, that evidence of their weakness would be brought into the world.

A completely unremarkable baby girl was delivered by the snake sannin, with Shizune drugged by her own sishou into unconsciousness, slumped over on the other side of the room. She couldn't believe she'd actually carried the damned child to term but Orochimaru had all but begged her to and threatened to drag her home. It would cost them both one day, she was certain.

"It's a girl Tsuna," Orochimaru said to her and she looked away, unwilling to gaze at the product of their sins. She didn't need to see a child she wouldn't raise. It was safer for the girl, anyway.

"I can see that. You need to take her away,"

"Tsunade, reconsider please. Come home, we can raise her."

"I will never go back. Don't take her there, they'll force her into being a shinobi. I don't want her to experience what we have."

"At least let me tell Hiruzen."

"You can't Maru! He's a kage and shinobi first. Even then, he'd tell Jiraiya and he must not know. It would kill him as you've always said."

"I thought you didn't care what he thought."

"I don't"

The emphasis she placed on the words was heavy enough to make Orochimaru pause rocking their daughter and glare back at her. For a moment she thought he'd let it go. It had been wistful thinking though as he put into words what she'd always suspected about their team.

"Snake loved a toad. Toad loved a slug. Slug loved a snake. Perhaps, that is the true three way deadlock," he murmured as he rocked the girl gently. She flinched at his words. Jiraiya's affections had been no secret of course but the two of them were more subtle. The first time she'd realised it was in Ame. When she wouldn't let Orochimaru kill the injured Jiraiya. When she stood between them, the pain she'd seen in those snake-like eyes were beyond what she'd seen in a long time. One didn't look that way over mere friendship. It could only be love, the pure kind, untainted yet by lust. Perhaps her gaze had mirrored that pain when she'd realised it. Or perhaps Orochimaru had always known.

The man had an uncanny ability intuitively grasp a concept. Tsunade was awed by the way Orochimaru was taking to fatherhood. She almost felt bad to rob him of it. However, a child of two thirds of the sannin would be a target. Especially a young girl. Her mind flashed to the elder council and a certain war hawk that was all too fond of her raven-haired teammate and her resolve hardened. She didn't trust the shinobi system.

"Loved is past tense. We are shinobi, feelings don't matter."

"I can't leave the child in an orphanage, Tsuna. Too many end up shinobi during wars."

"A whorehouse."

"You want our daughter to grow up in a whore house? Tsunade are you mad?"

"Take her to one of those high-end tea houses. The ones that don't exploit kids. Pay off some harlots contact and entrust the girl to her. Use henge or genjustu. Tell her you'll be watching. Threaten her. Fuck, convince the bitch she birthed the brat."

"What if someone goes after her or the girl? What if someone tries to take our child?"

"Only then, if the secrets out should she go to the Leaf. Tell her to find Hiruzen and say the girls Jiraiya's. They should buy that."

"That won't fool Hiruzen. He'll know, I'm certain. He'd have the child tested discretely. "

"It doesn't need to, he's smart enough to keep quiet if she's under threat. You're a child prodigy and I'm part fucking Senju, part Uzumaki. Jiraiya, strong as he is now was a dead last orphan on paper. He'd be the sannin who's offspring wouldn't be given a glance, especially if the mothers a whore."

"Fine, I'll do it. Nobody will never know the truth of how this child came to be. But for her sake. Not yours, nor Jiraiya's."

"I'll owe you one someday. Thank you, Maru."

"You owe me too much already, Tsuna."


End file.
